Cleveland Cavaliers: Breaking Down The End Of The Win Streak
By Austin Remo
The Cleveland Cavaliers‘ 12-game win streak came to an end Friday night when they fell to the Indiana Pacers on the road, 103-99. They fell one game short of tying the franchise record for consecutive wins of 13 that was set in 2010.
Cleveland had lost eight straight games to the Pacers in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, pushing that streak to nine consecutive after they gave up a double-digit lead in the second half.
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Compared to their previous 12 games, the Cavs went away from what got them playing great basketball and being able to dominate their opponents on both ends of the floor.
They were sloppy in the third and fourth quarters, and took entirely too many jump shots away from the basket. When you have incredible athletes like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving with their ability to get to the basket, Cleveland should be imposing its will on offense by getting into the paint.
And, that’s what they were doing for the majority of their streak. LeBron looked like the LeBron of old by going to the basket with a full head of steam and drawing fouls at will.
Let’s break down what was off in Friday night’s loss at Indiana.
PERSONAL FOULS
The Cavs are tied for second in the league in committing personal fouls against their opponents at 18.2 per game, and are ninth in the league at drawing fouls against the opposing team at 21.0 per game.
Against the Pacers, the Cavs committed a total of 20 fouls in the game, leading to 26 free throws for Indiana who knocked down 21 of them.
On the other end of the floor, Cleveland only forced a total of 14 fouls for the entire game, much lower than the 21 they force opponents to commit on a nightly basis.
Cleveland only went to the free throw line 12 times, hitting eight of those attempts for 66.7 percent. During the win streak, they went to the line an average of 26.3 times a night and hit 19.6 of those attempts, a 74.4 percent clip.
This goes back to them taking more jump shots than in their previous games throughout the win streak.
SHOT SELECTION
As I’ve mentioned before, the Cavs’ shot selection in Friday’s loss left a lot of people scratching their heads.
Against the Pacers, David Blatt’s crew had an itchy trigger finger from the three-point line, launching 35 attempts from deep. They did manage to hit 11 of those attempts, but was only good for 31 percent from outside. During their previous 12 games, the Cavs shot the three ball at a 36.6 percent clip, taking 29.2 attempts from distance and knocking down 10.7 of them.
For a team that has LeBron and Kyrie, two of the best finishers within five feet and underneath the basket in the league, 35 attempts from deep is not the way they’re going to win games when they matter.
They went 15-for-26 within five feet of the basket in the loss, shooting 57.7 percent. From five feet and out, including the three-point line, they shot 25-for-63 for only 39.7 percent . In other words, get into the paint like you’re supposed to.
KEVIN LOVE’S STRUGGLES
Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers, Kevin Love scored a season-low five points on 1-of-7 from the floor to go along with 15 rebounds in the 97-84 win. Then on Thursday versus the Los Angeles Clippers, Love set the tone early and carried the Cavs with 24 points and nine rebounds in a 105-94 victory.
Friday night was a repeat of Monday’s game against the Sixers. Love matched his season-low with five points and only managed to grab eight rebounds in 34 minutes of action. In the last four minutes of the game, Blatt benched him in favor of a smaller lineup that consisted of James, Irving, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov.
The benching wasn’t because the Cavs were playing great without him and making a huge comeback or dominating. He was benched because he looked completely inept and lost on the court, passing up nearly every shot he got.
He hasn’t been playing great throughout the 12-game streak, but the loss to the Pacers was a different story.
Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com got a chance to speak with him 1-on-1 after another tough night on the court:
"“I felt last game I got in the post and got myself going and got to the free-throw line,” Love said of his 24-point effort against Los Angeles. “Tonight I was more of a spacer so I wasn’t necessarily being asked to score the ball tonight, but I felt LeBron [James] and Kyrie [Irving] and Timo [Mozgov] and those guys did a great job.”[…]When is he actually asked to be a scorer?“That’s tough to answer,” he responded. “I don’t know. I just kind of go out there and play and affect the game. Right now, I’m trying to find my way.”Love’s facial expression said it all. This up and down rollercoaster of a season is wearing on him.“Oh yeah, definitely frustrating,” he admitted. “Yeah, I think it’s one of the toughest situations I’ve had to deal with, but at the end of the day we’re winning basketball games. I know tonight was different. At the same time, there’s no blueprint for what I should be doing, but I’ll try my best to figure it out.”"
Like I said, Love hasn’t played great through the entire stretch. He’s been rather inconsistent since they’ve been winning, even after playing roughly the same amount of minutes.
When LeBron went down with his injury and missed two weeks, Love was able to move into the second scoring option behind Kyrie Irving. For those two weeks, he posted per game averages of 21.6 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists while shooting 46 percent from the field.
Obviously, when the best player in the game is out, everything he does for his team has to be picked up by someone. Love stepped up his game in a huge way with the King out, but it clearly didn’t solve his issues with being lost in the offense.
Perhaps more important than how the Cavs respond to the loss over the next few games before the All-Star break is going to be how Kevin Love can respond to his recent play.
However, how Cleveland handles their loss on Friday is still going to be very important to the rest of the season. After a long win streak that did wonders for the team’s chemistry and confidence, it is imperative for them to play with the offensive and defensive intensity that got them from below .500 and the No.6 seed in the East to only 1.0 game out of the No.3 seed.
All stats via NBA.com.
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